EMBLEMS OF IDOLATRY CONSUMED * 137 
mary homage to the gods, began to expatiate on 
the power of the gods, and, pointing to some 
bunches of uru , or red feathers, which were always 
considered emblematical of their deities, employed 
insulting language, and threatened with vengeance 
the queen's companions. One of Pomare-vahine’s 
men, the individual who had offered their ac¬ 
knowledgments to God, on the presentation of 
food in Eimeo, hearing this, and pointing to the 
feathers, said, “ Are those the mighty things you 
so extol, and with whose anger you threaten us ? 
If so, I will soon convince you of their inability 
even to preserve themselves." Running at the 
same time to the spot where they were fixed, he 
seized the bunches of feathers, and cast them into 
a large fire close by, where they were instantly 
consumed. The people stood aghast, and uttered 
exclamations of horror at the sacrilegious deed; 
and it is probable that this act increased the 
hatred already rankling in the bosoms of the idola¬ 
trous party. 
The individual who acted so heroic and con¬ 
spicuous a part on these occasions was Farefau, a 
native of Borabora, but attached to the household 
of Pomare-vahine, with whom he had arrived from 
the Leeward Islands in 1814. When he reached 
Eimeo, he was an idolater, but soon became a 
pupil in the school; and, in the close of the same 
year, desired that his name might be recorded 
among the converts. He occupied a prominent 
station in all the struggles between paganism and 
Christianity; maintaining an unblemished cha¬ 
racter, and an unwavering profession, through the 
varied scenes of that unsettled period. He en¬ 
gaged with diligence in teaching the inhabitants of 
the remote and rocky parts of Taiarabu the cate- 
